Wed, Dec 07, 2005
Wins Scholarship For His Answer To The Dirichlet Problem
Michael Viscardi may have the answer to a 200-year-old question:
how to build a better wing. The California teen isn't sharing the
details at the moment -- which is fine for us, as we're still
trying to figure out how many orders Boeing REALLY has for 2005 --
but suffice to say, the answer could lead to even more efficient
aircraft wing designs.
For his efforts, 16-year-old Viscardi had won a $100,000 college
scholarship in a high-school science competition. What won Viscardi
the prize was his answer to a 19th century math stumper known as
the Dirichlet problem, formulated by the mathematician Lejeune
Dirichlet.
According to the Seattle Times, Viscardi's theorem to solve the
problem has potential applications in engineering and physics,
including airplane wing design. The teen says it tool him about six
months, working with a University of California-San Diego
professor, to figure it out.
And the answer? Well... it's complicated (carry the one... 1840
airplanes? That can't be right...)
"It was almost impossible for our judges to figure out the
limits of his understanding during our questioning, and he's only
16 years old," said lead judge Constance Atwell, a consultant and
former research director at the National Institutes of Health.
Viscardi -- who has been home-schooled since the fifth grade,
although he takes advanced math classes three times a week at UCSD
-- is, understandably, excited about his win.
"It's unbelievable," Viscardi said. "It's so incredible that I'm
in shock right now."
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